Ravinder earlier two books- ‘I too have a love story’ and ‘Can Love happen Twice’ were really nothing much to talk about. They were simple- quite honest but lacked twist and the power to keep you glued on. So picking up ‘Love Stories That Touched My Heart‘ was definitely risky. Being an anthology with a spread of short love stories by diverse set of young authors was the bait and yours truly fell for it.
Contest was organised by PENGUIN- so I trust this publisher to do a great job. The stories were selected by Ravinder – and here was the dicey part. Quality lies in quantity- so whatever maybe the process and the selector- the contest with more than 2000 entries would throw up a spectrum of stories. The romantic in me was willing to give it a try.
In this selection of love stories, I was reintroduced to Infatuation, Love, Lust, true Love, affair- and a lot many hues of love. And like love the stories cut across the geographical- age- caste- status constraints. And love stories are happening real time globally. And they must be told. And I must read them.
Of the lot, there are few which touched me too. I could see a piece of my love, my romance, my teenage and my love in it. And so would you. Unfortunately on the emotional index the selected stories have not much to offer. There is not a single story where you may feel like crying, none that will really impress you to plant a smile on your face or something that will keep lingering in your mind. So, you may still go ahead and pick it for very light reading. Love stories are really safe in this context.
Stories being short- are well paced. Advantage with such short stories is that you could very well stop at the end of one – take a breather- and get back at your pace. And here in ‘Love stories that touched my heart’- just a suggestion- don’t write your name on the book. You may want to gift it to someone.
I personally favoured ‘One Night stand at Hariharapuram’ by Mohan Raghvan, ‘Synchronocity’ by Jyoti Singh Viswanath, ‘A village love story’ by Hasseb Peer, ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ by Jennifer Ashraf Kashmi. ‘A pair of shoes’ by Manaswita Ghosh. ‘Clumsy Cupid’ by Reuben Kumar Lalwani, ‘The girl behind the counter’ by Omkar Khandekar and ‘A train to my marriage’ by Vandana Sharma
Also in the running for favourites were ‘May God bless you dear ‘ by Yamani Vijendran, ‘Cheers to love’ by Renu Bhutoria Sethi, ‘Love is also a compromise’ By Manjula Pal. ‘A tale of two strangers’ by Swagata Pradhan, ‘The most handsome’ by Kavya Kamraj, ‘The smiling stranger’ by Lalit Kundalia, ‘The last note’ by Amrit Sinha, ‘Here’s how it goes’ by Arka Dutta, ‘Flirting’ by Vinayak Nadkarni and then a very contemporary story ‘Just because I made love to you doesn’t mean I love you’ by Anjali Khurana
And some that were just average like ‘Never Forget me’ by Renuka Viswanathan, ‘Heartstrings’ by Dr Roshan Radhakrisgnan, ‘The uncertainties of life’ by Arpita Gosh, ‘Another tune another place’ by Sowmya Aji, ‘A love story in reverse’ by Sujir Pavithra Nayak’ and ‘The divine Union’ by K Balakumaran.
Everyone of us as a romantic will have our own preferences coloured very much by our own feelings and nearness felt to an story. So, if you love romance and short stories- do not get tricked by the editor name- just pick it and enjoy.
LOVE STORIES THAT TOUCHED BY HEART- edited by RAVINDER SINGH. PENGUIN metro reads. Pages 238 INR 125.
